Izidor Erazem Grafenauer, born 3 April 1991, started learning the piano at the age of six with Suzana Zorko Mlinarič and the guitar at the age of eight with Eva Hren at the Conservatory for Music and Ballet Ljubljana. At the secondary music school he studied music theory as well as the guitar. Before completing secondary school, he was admitted to the Academy of Music in Ljubljana as an outstanding talent in 2008, where he studied with Prof. Andrej Grafenauer, graduating in 2013 with honors. He pursued his postgraduate studies at the Music Academy in Zagreb with Prof. István Römer and at the Music Conservatory Benedetto Marcello in Venice, graduating from the baroque lute and theorbo in 2017 under Prof. Tiziano Bagnati.
He has received numerous high prices in music “competitions” as well as two Prešeren Awards, the highest awards given by the Academy of Music of Ljubljana, for his solo performances with the orchestra and his performances with the Hymnia Quartet.
As a soloist, he has performed with the Slovenian Philharmonics (R. Dyens’s Concerto Metis, J. Rodrigo’s Concierto Arajuez), the chamber orchestra of the Academy of Music (M. Giuliani’s Concerto, Op. 30) and the Symphony Orchestra of the Slovenian National Theatre Maribor (the world premier of T. Žalik’s Guitar Concerto). Furthermore, he has performed with the guitar orchestra of the Academy of Music and the Guitar Orchestra of Ljudmil Rus (Händel, Vivaldi, Moreno-Torroba), the Cantabile Symphony Orchestra (Rodrigo’s Concierto Madrigal for Guitar Quartet) and the Baroque Orchestra of the Academy of Music of Ljubljana (Vivaldi’s Concerto in D-major).
He has given concerts across Slovenia as well as in Austria, Italy, Hungary, Germany, France, Croatia and Serbia organized by Amici della Musica Udine, Young Euro Classic Passau, Suoni del Luoghi, Dubrovnik Summer Festival, Korkyra Baroque Festival among others.
Izidor Erazem Grafenauer is a very active chamber musician. He is a member of various chamber groups, such as a guitar duo, a guitar quartet, and duos with other instruments (piano, harpsichord, flute, cello, clarinet, zither). Currently, he is most active in Slovenian Guitar Quartet, which he founded together with Mario Kurtjak, Simon Fojkar and Aljoša Vrščaj in 2012.
As a lutenist, he has collaborated with the Baroque Ensemble of the Academy of Music Ljubljana, the Slovenian National Theatre Maribor, HRT Zagreb, the Slovenian Philharmonics, the Baroque Ensemble of the Academy of Music Zagreb, Teatro La Fenice etc. He is a regular member of the Croatian Baroque Ensemble and regularly collaborates with vocal group Antiphonus.
In addition, he enjoys playing other genres such as klezmer (Slovenian Klezmer Band) and flamenco (CoraViento).
Since the academic year 2014/2015, he has worked as a lecturer in lute and historical string instruments at the Academy of Music of the University of Ljubljana. Since 2017, he has been a freelance artist.